Israel reportedly offering two-month fighting pause in exchange for release of all hostages
New York City public schools are expanding training on antisemitism and Islamophobia to middle and high schools as a result of tensions over the war in Gaza, underscoring how fallout over the conflict is trickling down to everyday life.
The city’s public schools chancellor, David Banks, said on Monday that all middle and high school principals would be required to receive training on “navigating difficult conversations” among US teenagers and address tensions over the war.
NYC public schools will also expand access to teaching materials on antisemitism and Islamophobia and offer anti-discrimination workshops to members of parent organisations amid reports that parent council meetings have descended into fighting matches over the war.
The public school measures are the latest that underscore a sharp divide among Americans over the war in the Middle East.
In a New York Times poll released late last year, 44 percent of US respondents said Israel should stop its military campaign to protect against civilian casualties, while 39 percent said Israel should continue its offensive in the besieged enclave.
Israel and Hamas broadly agree in principle that an exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners could take place during a month-long ceasefire.
But the framework plan is being held up by the two sides’ differences over how to bring a permanent end to the Gaza war, three sources said speaking to Reuters.
Intense mediation efforts led by Qatar, Washington and Egypt in recent weeks have focused on a phased approach to release different categories of Israeli hostages – starting with civilians and ending with soldiers.
Two Egyptian security sources said that there was work underway to convince Hamas to accept a one-month truce to be followed by a permanent ceasefire. However, Hamas is requesting guarantees that the second phase of the deal would be carried out, in order to agree to the initial truce, the sources said.
One offer by Israel is to end the war if Hamas removes six senior leaders from Gaza, said a seventh source, a senior Hamas official. However, Hamas “absolutely” rejected the proposal, he said speaking to Reuters.
Heavy Israeli bombardments are reported in close proximity to three hospitals in Gaza’s Khan Younis – Nasser, Al Amal, and Al Aqsa hospitals – as fighting between Israeli forces and Palestinian continues.
Now the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) situation report also notes:
- Almost 90,000 residents and 425,000 displaced people have been ordered by the Israeli military to leave more than 4sq km residential areas in Khan Younis
- The massive clearance order in Khan Younis affects 24 UN shelters for people displaced by Israel’s war, three hospitals, which represent 20 percent of all partially, still-functioning medical centres in Gaza, and three other health clinics
Good morning readers of Middle East Eye,
We are on day 110 of the Israeli war on Gaza and the Palestinian death toll in the besieged strip stands at 25,490, the vast majority women and children.
In its latest update the Palestinian Health Ministry has said that at least 63,354 have been wounded in attacks by the Israeli military.
More than 8,000 missing who are believed to be dead and buried under rubble.
Here are some of the major developments from the last few hours:
- Israeli forces have ordered more than 500,000 people to leave Khan Younis in southern Gaza, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says
- UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron will “progress sustainable Gaza ceasefire”, the Foreign Office says, as he departs for Israel, the occupied Palestinian territories, Qatar and Turkey
- “We remain clear about not encroaching on [Gaza’s] territory,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken insists as the Israeli military says it is attempting to create a new “buffer zone”
- The Council on American-Islamic Relations condemns Israeli “murder” of a Palestinian with a group waving a white flag in Gaza’s Khan Younis.
- US destroys two Houthi anti-ship missiles
- Two-state solution ‘only way’ to achieve peace in Palestine, Israel: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres
Good evening Middle East Eye readers,
At least 25,490 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli army since the start of the war on 7 October, according to the latest figures by the Palestinian Health Ministry.
It said 63,354 people have also been injured since October 7.
At least one Palestinian has been killed and 12 wounded as Israel targeted the Palestine Red Crescent Society headquarters in Khan Younis and the El Amal City Hospital.
In other developments:
- Gaza is once more affected by a “near-total telecommunications blackout” amid relentless Israeli bombardment, according to an internet watchdog.
- Israel’s military says it killed “dozens” of Palestinian fighters during fierce fighting in the Gaza Strip over the past 24 hours. The claim could not be independently verified.
- Palestinian photojournalist Motaz Azaiza announced on Tuesday that he would be leaving the war-torn Gaza Strip on Tuesday for Qatar.
- US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Tuesday that the US does not support any permanent change to Gaza’s territory, but indicated openness to considering “transitional arrangements” as potential solutions to the war in Gaza.
- United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that “clear and repeated rejection of the two-state solution at the highest levels of the Israeli government is unacceptable”, while he called for increased humanitarian aid access across the Gaza Strip.
- In a joint statement released on Tuesday, Britain announced that a coalition of 24 countries, including the United States, Germany, and Australia, carried out further strikes on Monday, targeting eight locations in Yemen’s Houthi-held regions.
In a joint statement released on Tuesday, Britain announced that a coalition of 24 countries, including the United States, Germany, and Australia, carried out further strikes on Monday, targeting eight locations in Yemen’s Houthi-held regions.
“In response to continued illegal and reckless Houthi attacks against vessels transiting the Red Sea and surrounding waterways, the armed forces of the United States and United Kingdom, with support from Australia, Bahrain, Canada, the Netherlands, and New Zealand, conducted additional strikes against eight targets in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen,” a joint statement issued by the British prime minister’s office said.
“These strikes were designed to disrupt and degrade the capability of the Houthis to continue their attacks on global trade and innocent mariners from around the world, while avoiding escalation.”
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Tuesday that the US does not support any permanent change to Gaza’s territory, but indicated openness to considering “transitional arrangements” as potential solutions to the war in Gaza.
“If there needs to be transitional arrangements to enable that to happen, that’s one thing,” Blinken told reporters in Abuja, Nigeria.
“But when it comes to the permanent status of Gaza going forward, we’ve been clear, we remain clear about not encroaching on its territory.”
German police summoned Taqadum al-Khatib, a researcher affiliated with Princeton University and Berlin Free University, for questioning, following a post he published on his X account.
On 10 November, Khatib wrote, “Please inform the people, intellectuals, professors, the political elite and the media in Germany: ‘Surviving a Holocaust doesn’t give you the right to enact another’. RETWEET if you agree”.
On Tuesday, Khatib took to X and posted in Arabic that because of the tweet, the German police have summoned him to investigate “in a report filed against me by Zionist associations”.
“Welcome to the free world that supports and embraces freedom of opinion and expression. In this context, I welcome any legal support,” he added.
On Tuesday, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that “clear and repeated rejection of the two-state solution at the highest levels of the Israeli government is unacceptable”, while he called for increased humanitarian aid access across the Gaza Strip.
“The entire population of Gaza is enduring destruction at a scale and speed without parallel in recent history,” Guterres told the UN Security Council.
“Nothing can justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people.”
He told the council that the humanitarian situation in the Palestinian enclave was “appalling” and that “the people of Gaza not only risk being killed or injured by relentless bombardments, they also run a growing chance of contracting infectious diseases like hepatitis A, dysentery, cholera.”
Brett McGurk, the US envoy for the Middle East, is in Cairo on Tuesday to engage in discussions aimed at securing the release of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, as well as negotiating a humanitarian ceasefire, according to a statement from the White House.
White House spokesperson John Kirby said that the Biden administration is fully in favour of extending the duration of the humanitarian pause.
Kirby added that McGurk’s discussions encompass additional topics, such as evaluating Israel’s military actions and its initiatives to safeguard civilians, and further examining the prospects for normalising relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia.
Speaking to the UK’s Telegraph newspaper, former Israeli premier Ehud Barak said Israel risked “sinking in the Gaza mud for years to come” if Netanyahu continued to hold on to power.
The Israeli prime minister is widely blamed for the failures that led to the 7 October attack by Hamas-led Palestinian fighters and the military response, which has so far failed to dislodge Hamas in Gaza despite a devastating toll on civilians.
“For Hamas to win it just needs to survive,” Barak said, adding that even killing the leadership of Hamas would not deal a death blow to the organisation.
“The only way is to have an election straight away,” he added.
Some quotes from a Palestinian in Khan Younis, which is the current focus of Israeli bombardment:
“The situation in Khan Younis is catastrophic, especially in the Amal neighbourhood in the Mashroaa area. Tanks are less than 500 metres from the area and snipers have taken over the rooftops of residential buildings there, ready to shoot anyone who moves,” said 24-year-old Said Wujdan.
“The bombardment has not stopped since yesterday. I woke up when window glass shattered on me, and I had injuries,” he added.
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees says that 570,000 people in Gaza are at risk of catastrophic hunger.
Starvation is setting in amongst Palestinians in the besieged territory amid an intense Israeli siege, which blocks the import of food and fuel into the area.
Images shared on social media in the past few days show Palestinians turning animal feed into flour for bread due to shortages of food.
The Israeli army have issued alerts for residents in six so-called blocks in Khan Younis City to evacuate their homes.
Israel has divided the beseiged Gaza Strip into blocks, instructing Palestinians to move from one block to another. The measures, however, give civilians no measure of protection.
The identified blocks were 107, 108, 109, 110, 111 and 112.
Middle East Eye spoke to ordinary civilians told to leave their homes.
“At around 6am, I received an emergency alert marked as urgent on my phone demanding us to leave our homes in Khan Younis City. I live with 23 members of my family in Block 107.
“This area has been one of the safest zones we sought refuge in during the previous wars. I fled here on 17 October from Gaza City after my house was destroyed,” said Dina, 36, displaced with her four children.
The message demanded that residents flee to the Al-Amal neighbourhood, as well as those in central Khan Younis and the refugee camp, to flee to the Al-Mawasi area.
“They lie to us. They just change the place where they intend to kill us. The majority of the displaced people in Al-Mawasi have already fled yesterday after Israeli tanks reached the area.
“Quadcopters and battleships fired upon them. My brother was there and had to evacuate with his family to Rafah City,” said Dina, speaking to MEE.
“At this moment, the majority of the blocks in Khan Younis are marked as unsafe. Previously, we used to flee from one home to another, then return when the shelling stopped. Today all zones are marked as unsafe and susceptible to bombing.
“We are experiencing hunger, pain and cold, and the world is just watching. Where should we go?” she said.
Dr Ahmed Mugrabi, head of the plastic reconstructive surgery department at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, spoke to Middle East Eye on Tuesday. He gave a glimpse of the chaos resulting from the Israeli blockade of the city.
“We have got news today from the Israeli army to evacuate block number 107. This block actually contains schools, hospitals and other houses,” said Mugrabi.
Israel divided the besiged Gaza Strip in blocks, instructing Palestinians to move from one block to another. The measures, however, give civilians no measure of protection.
“People actually were trying to evacuate this block but they couldn’t. All over and around me, explosions, gunshot can be heard, and is being fired over our heads. People couldn’t evacuate because it wasn’t safe,” said Mugrabi.
“There is no way to escape and nowhere to evacuate to. And they all got ordered to evacuate this block. We are trying to find medical staff but they couldn’t come to the hospital. We are very few in the hospital and there are dozens of people who are wounded and we need to look after,” he said.
“The situation is catastrophic, really catastrophic. If anybody can really help us as medical personnel. I really hope everyone will hear my voice. I can’t begin to explain to you what a real disaster the situation here is. Please tell the Israelis we are not a target. The hospital is not a target. Please!,” he added.